Putin. How will he be remembered ?

Vladimir Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Saint Petersburg and brought up as an only child. He worked hard both academically and excelled athletically in the martial arts of Judo and Sambo. After graduating in law in 1975 from the Saint Petersburg State University , Putin joined the KGB intelligence service and was mostly stationed in Germany . Putin is fluent in Russian, English and German. In 1990, he left the KGB and joined the civil service in his home town of Saint Petersburg as the Head of External Relations for the City Council. In 1996, he started to work in the presidential administration and was promoted to Chief of Staff. In July 1998, Putin was appointed the Head of the Federal Security Bureau, a newly established Russian security service. This was followed by President Boris Yeltsin appointing Putin as Head of the Security Council. Yeltsin then appointed Putin to the position of Prime Minister in August 1999. Putin was asked to act as President on the retirement of Yeltsin.

Putin is considered to be tough, intelligent and energetic. He is very popular with the young educated class. The toughness element definitely played out in some recent terrorist encounters. The Dubrovka theatre encounter is one that will be hard for the general news watching public to forget, as it is has seared itself into not only the mind, but also the heart. The theatre was showing the extremely popular Nord-Ost, Russia ’s first homegrown musical. Before the terrorism attack more than 300,000 had paid the steep ticket price to see the musical in the first year. The audience was guaranteed to be filled with the wealthy class but what wasn’t really expected was the conclusion. More than 800 hostages were taken by the men carrying Kalashnikovs, and the women with explosives strapped to their bodies, speaking Chechnya between themselves. In the end 129 died, including 17 cast members. However, the majority died not through gun fire but from the knock out gas used by the Russian police and the lack of emergency services provided. Rather than close down the theatre in October 2002 and erect a memorial, the government chose to reconstruct the venue and put the show back on the road. In May 2003, the theatre reopened showing Nord-Ost but it was not quite the same. Another 100,000 spectators came to see the musical that year and noticed that there was not any mention of the tragedy by way of a plaque in the theatre or on the programme.

Another terrorist encounter equally, and more so traumatic as it involved school children was the Beslan, North Ossetia school attack on 1 September 2004. On the border with Chechnya , 1200 hostages were taken, and mostly they were children. After the three day siege with explosives detonated in the school gym, 326 of the hostages were killed and 700 wounded. This is a terrible encounter by all accounts.

President Putin is bringing the Russian economy through a transition period after Yeltsin. Plenty of Russian’s are filthy rich and there is a growing middle class but the vast majority are still incredibly poor. This is played out in the low childbirth statistics where many Russians don’t feel they have the finances to bring up a family of more than one and care for their elderly. For the last few years the population in the Russian Federation has been dropping by 750,000 per annum. This means, if the trend continues, that in 15 years time, the population of Russia will be reduced by 22 million, one seventh of the country’s current population. Putin is encouraging families to have two children but has acknowledged that economically it is difficult for many to do so.

The policies of the Russian Federation and the President are broad. On one hand it is stated that corruption is a problem and statements have been made to the effect of improving legislation, and placing tighter controls on public officials and local authorities. It is hard not to think about the new wealth of some individuals and from what means it was generated. There are still problems in the country with land ownership and gaining undisputed title over pieces of land for private usage.

Science, technology, education and nuclear arms are hot topics. Putin has placed much support to higher education institutions and the integration of education and research. Of course vocational schools play a part in this economic development providing they are aligned with the needs of the business sector and this is a policy area for the Putin administration. When we talk about science and technology, it really is the leading edge areas such as safe nuclear reactors, nanotechnology, medical technology, and robotics. Modern energy technologies such as hydrogen and thermonuclear are being developed and the aim is to improve energy efficiency. The purpose of course, the underlying themes, in all Putin’s policies is regional security, Russia ’s self sufficiency, and good living for the people.

The country is no longer socialist, and this is demonstrated by the problems the poor and much of the middle class have with getting access to housing. Affordable housing is a big problem, and the monopoly in the construction sector is doing nothing to improve the lives of the average population. To his credit, Putin’s policies highlight these problems and the enormous profit generation obtained by the construction industry at the expense of the average Russian.

We all heard the recent comments on the Cold War and the need for the US to be in the centre of all news stories by Putin. Although these comments were not popular, they were effective in getting the Russian Federation in the news. It got everyone to remember that Russia is a large country that used to be in the news all the time, and now it is just going along with the task of providing good jobs for it’s people.

Putin will be remembered as an intelligent leader, running a complex and strong country through a difficult transition stage in a time when the world really is a global economy and it is important to keep your foothold.